


fire alarm

by nitorisource



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2014-10-05
Packaged: 2018-02-20 01:45:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2410448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nitorisource/pseuds/nitorisource
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It seems they've been coincidentally avoiding one another since coming to Tokyo for college, but when their apartment building is evacuated Sousuke finally gets his one on one time with Makoto, albeit dressed half-naked and trying not to shiver in the three am chill.</p>
            </blockquote>





	fire alarm

**Author's Note:**

> ty to the tumblr anon!!

_What fucking time is it? Three am? That’s fucking swell._

Sousuke grumbles and rubs at his eyes as he exits his cramped apartment room and enters the flow of other tenants hurriedly making their way downstairs, a mixture of a blaring fire alarm and worried chatter and crying children filling the chilly outdoors. Some guy’s shouting over a loudspeaker that there’s no real fire, which is good news for them all, but considering Sousuke’s gotten about ten minutes of sleep before being so rudely woken up he’s less than pleased to hear some guy’s probably pulled the alarm for kicks and giggles tonight.

They all file out to the ground floor and stand near the row of poplars out by the parking garage, the crowd thinning out, and Sousuke realizes just how damn cold it is. The only reason he was asleep earlier was because he’d nodded off in the middle of taking biology notes, and the alarm had him jolting awake and stumbling through the unpacked boxes in his room. He didn’t have the thought process to grab a jacket on the way out. Or a shirt. Anything to cover up the upper half of his body.

He’s been getting a few odd stares from the other people, especially from the small children and mothers, and he returns each of them a hearty glower. Goosebumps are prickling all over his skin and up his exposed arms, and he tries to warm himself up by rubbing his upper arms. His shoulder especially is starting to ache in the chill, and he tries to drown out the incessant alarm in hopes of time passing by quickly.

“Ah - I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Sousuke opens his eyes and his vision adjusts on a frantic looking face of the person who’s just nudged past him. His brown hair’s ruffed up and sticking out all over the place, his jacket looks like it’s on backwards, and his black framed glasses are crooked on his nose. He’s really tall, too, and those eyes are an almost familiar shade of green - it takes Sousuke a few more sleep-deprived moments of thinking to finally piece together the person in front of him.

“Yamazaki-kun?” Makoto beats him to it. His frantic expression shifts to something akin to shock.

“Uh, Tachibana. You live here?” That’s a really stupid question. All at once, Sousuke feels hyper aware of his naked body, which makes little sense considering they’ve seen more than enough of one another’s bodies in their past year occasionally around one another.

“Oh, yes. Yeah, on the fourth floor.” He fumbles to adjust his glasses, but they look bent on one side and judging by the way his hair sticks up flat on the same side Sousuke guesses he must’ve fallen asleep on one side of his face.

“Me too,” Sousuke mutters, casting his eyes away. Alarm’s still going off, and it’s giving him a headache and he wants more than anything to be back inside. Away from Tachibana.

“Really?” Makoto pauses, gauges Sousuke’s closed off expression. Even so, he ventures to ask, “Ah, are you going to school around here, too? I don’t think Rin mentioned you coming here.”

He winces internally at the mention of Rin, but he nods and says, “I go to K Univeristy.”

Makoto blinks and allows himself to melt into a friendly smile. “Strange coincidence, huh? I go there as well. Guess we’ve just never run into each other before,” he says with a laugh.

Sousuke hums in response and turns away again, mulling over the fact that he’s been attending university for the past few weeks without even knowing. For some reason, it makes him feel a bit more.... hopeful, maybe?

“Nanase with you too?”

“He goes to a university on the other side of the city. Our schedules are both pretty busy, though. I haven’t seen him in a long time.” His tone is almost wistful as he says this. Sousuke is glad he doesn’t try to bring Rin up again.

The situation around them has calmed down for the most part, though it still seems as though they’re to wait a while more outside. Sousuke yawns and tries to hug himself a little tighter while his mind lazily runs through the probability of him finishing up the readings before his ten AM lit class.

“Yamazaki-kun, are you cold?”

“Hm?”

“If you want, you can use my jacket.” Makoto’s voice is light and lilted up towards the end as he already shrugs one shoulder out of his inside-out jacket.

“It’s fine,” Sousuke says with a shake of his head. “Won’t you be cold?”

“Well, I think I’ll be fine. After all, I’m not the one standing half naked outside, so…” The ends of Makoto’s lips tilt up shyly as he turns his eyes away from Sousuke’s tight-muscled front and up towards the trees. “Although, it might be a little smaller than you’re used to. It’s better than nothing, right?”

He’s already got his hand extended, light green jacket a warm and enticing offer, and Sousuke stares at it for a few moments. He hasn’t heard much about the brunet other than his exceptional kindness, so he chooses to accept it.

Makoto’s right about it being a little tight, but this is the closest he’s come to borrowing another person’s jacket. Other people’s clothes, like Rin or, god forbid, Momo, just wouldn’t come close.

And anyway, the jacket’s soft and warm and he stuffs his hands into the pockets as soon as he zips it up. He’s embarrassed about this, but it smells exceptionally pleasant as well. Vanilla, and something else; it suits someone like Makoto. It reminds him of something warm and sweet, like freshly baked cookies or cake, and Sousuke’s never been one for sweet foods but he thinks that this might be enough to get him to try new things.

“Thanks,” he says gruffly.

“No problem.” Makoto’s smile is warm, warm, warm. But Sousuke doesn’t think something like smiling and caring could possibly be enough to physically keep Makoto warm, so after a few wordless moments between them, he steps a little closer to the brunet so that their arms are pressed together and he relishes in the heat they share even through such a small area. Sousuke wouldn’t mind doing more and he can’t shake away the irrational need to wrap his arms around the shorter guy, but he hopes they can both settle for this. For now, at least.

This time, it’s Makoto’s turn to say, “Thanks.” It’s too dim under the streetlights to tell, but Sousuke thinks the guy might be blushing beside him, and he has to turn his head away to hide the smirk on his own face.

Sousuke is almost disappointed when they give the OK to head back inside, and the two of them are motionless while everyone else around them starts to head back for the stairs and their rooms.

“Fourth floor, right?” Makoto asks to break the silence.

“Yeah.”

Even with the jacket, Sousuke feels worlds colder once Makoto moves away from him. He follows the brunet up the stairs and tries his best to keep his eyes off of Makoto’s toned and muscled back - he tries not to stare, but the tight, thin shirt Makoto is wearing makes the task difficult.

“Oh. I live down the hall this way,” Sousuke says and points once they reach the top of the stairs. “424.”

“Ah - well, you can keep the jacket. I mean, you can return it to me. Tomorrow. Or, you know, whenever you’re free to drop by, because this is my room here - so, maybe tomorrow evening, you could--”

“Got it. Tomorrow evening. You home by eight?” Sousuke can’t help the smirk on his lips at Tachibana’s rather pathetic attempt at flirting, but it was endearing all the same.

“Yes!” Makoto says a little too eagerly. “I mean, yeah, that sounds good. And if you haven’t eaten by then, then we can probably go out for dinner, if you’d like.”

I thought you only wanted me to return your jacket? Sousuke thinks to himself, but there’s no way he’d pass up on an offer for dinner with Makoto.

“Sounds good. Night, Tachibana. Or, morning. It’s nearly four.” He pauses as he turns the other way. “Shit. I’ve still got work to do.”

Makoto lets out a laugh at the suddenly serious expression on Sousuke’s face and turns away for his own room. “I’ve got a lot to finish still, too. I’ll see you around, Yamazaki-kun.”

 

 


End file.
